Ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her associates apparently benefitted personally from obtaining their security clearance status, Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel told Sputnik. The analyst shared his views on why Clinton's security clearance was withdrawn in August 2018 and whether it was her own decision.

On October 12, the Senate Judiciary Committee revealed that Hillary Clinton's security clearance had been removed "at her request" on August 30, 2018. This information emerged as part of State Department's ongoing review of the mishandling of classified information by Clinton with the use of her non-secured server.

Wall Street analyst and investigative journalist Charles Ortel doubts that this was all her idea.

"I doubt surrendering this clearance was her idea and wonder what her other options were, as well as what branches of the US government have been responsible for considering her clearance status, for how long?" he asked rhetorically.

On the other hand, the analyst presumed that "Hillary was given a chance to avoid the headline 'President Trump Pulled Losing Rival's Security Clearance, Breaking Precedent' and that this approach also appealed to the president's political insiders, prior to the looming midterm elections."

Ortel explained that "normally, obtaining a security clearance, especially a high level one, is an arduous process that involves comprehensive evaluation of risks to national security that are posed by a person's long-standing behavior, associations, and proclivities."

The Wall Street analyst wondered "what accommodations were made to allow her access to sensitive materials," given the fact that the Clinton Foundation's activities had long raised a lot of questions and legal suspicions.

"To see what I mean, please visit the site where anyone can review documents that the FBI and other government officials considered as part of a (fatally flawed) investigation into corruption that targeted both Clintons between February 2001 and an as yet unknown date in 2015," he said referring to vault.fbi.gov website.

How Clinton Could Benefit From Retaining a High Level Security Clearance

According to Ortel, since 1989, when American multinationals, banks, and investors began to expand activities abroad, the US federal government has become much more relevant in supporting politically connected donors' winning contracts and obtaining support from multilateral government organizations where the US still exerts outsized influence.

"In simple terms, it makes much more sense for donors to pay, and then play with elected officials who typically are thirsty for funds needed to finance expensive and recurring campaigns," he presumed.

The investigative journalist suggested that "retaining a high level security clearance, allows a person to learn, potentially, about thinking that connected insiders have on topics of potential interest to large donors including defense contractors, banks, investment firms, multinationals, and media concerns."

He expressed his firm belief that top officials should not retain these clearances, following their resignation, "particularly if they obtained them in 'light-touch' vetting that happened following an election."

Obama Administration Was Reckless in Performing Diligence on Hillary

Commenting on the ongoing State Department's review into the Clinton email scandal, Ortel, who has been investigating The Clinton Foundation's alleged fraud for over three years, said that the previous administration "was reckless in performing diligence on Hillary, Bill, Chelsea and many colleagues/donors who seem to have been funding lifestyle and election costs for the Clintons by 'contributing' to their 'charities'."

"What we do not know yet is why it has taken so long for so many experienced, empowered resources to fail spotting frauds and corruption that are evident in numerous public records found inside and outside the United States," Ortel highlighted. "We also do not know how many senior members of the Obama Administration knew about these felony crimes, yet failed to win convictions and incarcerations of Clintons and their co-conspirators."

Sharing his views on further Clinton-related investigations, the analyst noted that "President Trump has achieved many things in less than two years, but he has still not managed to 'Lock Them All Up' — a key objective of many who ardently support the maverick leader who seems so ably to be disrupting the corrupt status quo in both established political parties and across America."

Ortel opined that from the beginning of his presidency Trump "has seemingly devoted less attention to the unresolved project of exposing" the Clinton Foundation's alleged fraud, due to the obstruction from Obama-Clinton supporters and the need to attend to other priorities.

He warned that "left unchallenged, these frauds and their example will give current and future crooks comfort that 'Justice' is for sale in the United States and that fake charities, operating around the world but not controlled effectively by any regulator, are 'perfect' conduits and laundromats for dirty money and dirtier politicians."

The views and opinions expressed by the contributors do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.

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